Captive
by MyOtherName
Summary: Katara was captured by Azula in battle. Aang traded himself to Azula save the one he loves, even if it means his own death. But Azula has her own agenda. Can Katara and the others save Aang before Azula succeeds? Rated for violence, and lots of it.
1. The Messenger

**Okay, I brought this over from my oneshot collection to make it's own story. Please enjoy, not for the faint of heart.**

**As with most of my stories, all characters sound a little older.**

**Captive**

It was all happening so fast that Sokka didn't know what to make of it. About a couple of days ago, during a run-in with Azula and the other dangerous ladies, Katara had been taken. Aang lost it. Sokka and Toph had never seen Aang so angry before. About an hour ago, a messenger was sent by Azula to deliver instruction on how to get Katara back. He said that there would be a trade, the Avatar for girl. Currently, the messengers' unconscious body was lying no more than 10 feet away. By reading his heart rate and other vital signs, Toph estimated that he would come to in a few hours.

_-(Flashback)-_

"…_the Princess will meet you on the northern shore of Lake Nuo. There you are to exchange the Avatar for the peasant." The messenger spoke far too casually, considering he was faced with a very angry older brother, a sightless earthbending prodigy, and an Avatar with nothing on his mind but vengeance. Aang took it upon himself to fix the messengers unfazed tone._

"_No!" His voice boomed. It was deeper and harsher than it normally was, earning its share of attention from the messenger, Sokka; even Toph turned her head towards him. Ever since he lost the use of the Avatar State, Aang found his anger easier to express. "You'll tell us where she is now!"_

_The messenger scoffed. "Or what? Princess Azula has informed me of your peaceful tendencies. What exactly will you do to me?"_

_Aang's storm grey eyes flickered with anger before he extended his arm, airbending his staff into his hand, and then pointed it threateningly at Azula's minion. "Well, did Azula _inform _you how much this girl means to me?" Aang raised his staff until it was just inches away from the man's throat. "Believe me when I say I'm losing nothing by doing this."_

_Sokka and Toph shared a significant glance (though Toph couldn't exactly 'see' it,) and slowly approached Aang. Holding his hands up, Sokka addressed the young Avatar first._

"_Aang," He said warningly. "Think about what you're doing."_

"_They have your sister, Sokka," Aang sounded a little more patient than before, but the anger in his eyes remained the same. "They have her, and I lo-" Aang choked on his words, unwilling to reveal his true feelings for the waterbender, even though he was aware that everyone in the area must know of his infatuation by now. "I can't just let that go."_

_Sokka proceeded cautiously. "Of course not. I want to hurt this guy just as bad as you do. Maybe more," Aang doubted that. "But taking your anger out on this guy won't solve anything."_

"_He's right, Twinkle Toes." Toph now interjected and stepped closer to him than Sokka had. "We all miss her and we all want her back, but if you take it out on this guy you're no better than Azula and her flunkies."_

_Aang stood there, staff still pointed at Azula's messenger, at war with himself. He could take vengeance right here, right now… But what would that solve? That wouldn't bring Katara back. However, his instincts felt the need to attack; to savagely destroy the man standing mere feet away out of pure retribution._

"_Give me the staff." Toph commanded from behind him, taking a few steps closer. Aang quickly glanced back at her and then eyed the messenger. Toph was right. Sokka was right. He knew it all to well. But still…_

"_C'mon. Hand it over." She ordered once more. He took one more glance back and eyed the messenger again._

You have no idea how lucky you are.

_He lowered the staff from its position near the man's throat. Turning around, he shoved the staff into Toph's hands and walked off, trying to work away the anger._

_The messenger sneered. "I guess you don't care about her nearly as much as you think."_

_Rage flickered in Aang's eyes once more. Before he could stop himself, he whirled around, raising his right arm and swiftly bringing it down in a diagonal path, sending a powerful gust towards the messenger, knocking him back a few feet and landing painfully against a tree. His head hit a root sticking out of the ground bringing him to unconsciousness._

_Toph and Sokka turned towards Aang, who was staring at the crumpled mass that lied at the base of the tree. Instantly, Aang knew something was wrong. Closing his eyes and taking a shaky breath, he turned towards Appa and walked away, realizing a horrible truth._

I feel no remorse. I feel no shame…

_-(End Flashback)-_

Toph removed her hand from the ground when she informed Sokka of the messenger's condition. Standing up, she walked over and stood next to him.

"I can't believe he's going through this." She spoke of Aang, who was gathering up items and packing up camp, loading their things onto Appa. From the looks of it, he was getting ready to go to Lake Nuo and simply hand himself over to the Fire Nation.

"I can't believe what he did to that guy." Sokka responded.

"Would you have done it any differently?" She questioned.

Sokka sighed and hung his head. "No, I wouldn't have," He looked up to face her. "But that was Aang, not me. I mean, when did he get like that? Isn't he the one that's supposed to be making _peace_?"

"He loves Katara," Toph supplied. "And as long as he does, he'll never act the way you're expecting. Remember what he told us about the Avatar State and that Guru guy?"

"Yeah," Sokka's reply was short. "He never told Katara, did he?"

Toph shook her head. "He was afraid that she would think that it's her fault that this kind of thing would happen." She said, motioning over to the unmoving body near the tree.

They remained quiet for some time. Eventually, Sokka found something to say. "Do you think it's her fault?"

Toph nodded. "Some of it."

"Why's that?"

Toph gave kind of a sad smile. "Because she loves him, too."

----------

Azula watched, amused, as one of her soldiers came into the room, looking anxious, obviously with some kind of news to relay to her. Most of her soldiers acted nervous around her when they were alone, and with good reason. She was always sure to let her men know that she was in charge, and she had absolutely no problem losing a soldier.

The soldier quickly bowed and told her of the news, keeping his head down. "Milady, the messenger we sent to the Avatar and his companions hasn't returned. We fear the worst."

Azula smirked.

_The plan is working…_

**Now you see why it's multi chapter? I could have made this a lot longer, but I just had too many ideas to put down at once. Like I said, future chapters will contain some descriptive violence, so if you do not enjoy such scenes, please pat your head and rub your tummy. I don't know what that has to do with anything, but it would make me laugh.**

**Reviews are appreciated.**


	2. The Trade Off

**Since I abandoned "The Invasion of Black Sun," I'm considering turning this into its own fic. I've already got some good reviews (although a few more reviews would be nice) so it just might be possible.**

**Don't worry, frozenheat, I wouldn't abandon "The Life of a Monk." I like that one. I'm just waiting until I finish "Aang, Katara, and a Plan" to continue it.**

**I don't own Avatar.**

**The Trade-Off**

The flight to Lake Nuo went by quickly. Aang sat on Appa's head in silence, straining to get there as fast as possible without exhausting the bison. Sokka and Toph (who was terrified of these high speeds because they didn't have enough money to buy a new saddle yet) sat on Appa's back, arguing no less.

"I can't believe you're supporting his decision!" Toph shrieked at the Water Tribe warrior.

"It's not like we could stop him anyways. I mean, look at him, he's determined to do this."

"Even if I _could_ look at him I'd think this is stupid. Aang's the Avatar. I know they have Katara but we can't just let the world's last hope for peace rot in some cell!" Toph continued to yell. Aang was doing his best to ignore the two of them.

"Yes, we can. Look, I'm all for saving the world, but my dad told me to protect my sister, and right now, _she's_ the one rotting in some cell. So yes, I can let him go through with this."

"Ughhh!" She groaned. She would have punched him if she could see him. "You're not getting it Snoozles! If we give them Aang to get Katara back, then we just lost the war! Everything that we've been working towards for the past few months means nothing. And with him out of the way, we're easy targets. We're enemies of the Fire Nation; they won't hesitate to track us down and kill us. It doesn't matter if we get Katara back 'cause she'll just end up dead like the rest of us."

"Well then what do you suggest?!" Sokka yelled.

"Ambush them! Find where they're keeping her, start a fight in the middle of the trade or something but we just can't let them have Aang!"

"Azula's smarter than that," Toph and Sokka both turned their attention to Aang, who had decided to keep quiet until this point. "She'll outnumber us. By a lot. If we fight, we'll have no chance. The trade is the only way."

"We don't even know if Katara's still alive!" Toph argued. Sokka's face became horror-stricken. He hadn't even considered that yet.

"She's alive," Aang assured. "They want me, not her, and they'll want me to be cooperative. They know that I won't be if they kill her."

Toph realized that, for the first time, she had lost an argument. With a groan of resignation, she lied down onto her back. "You know that you're practically committing suicide, right?"

Aang's features hardened and he refocused his attention ahead of him. He could see the shore of the Lake. There were many people dotting the ground to the far north. "Yes."

----------

Katara gazed up at the sky; warm, sticky trails of tears on her face. She saw Appa in the distance, approaching rapidly. Her only thoughts were focused on the boy coming to rescue her by giving himself up to his enemies. A few more tears rolled down her face.

"Aang…" She whispered.

"The Avatar cares for you," The Fire Nation princess approached the waterbender. "Enough to make the ultimate sacrifice to save your life," She glanced at Katara. "It's a shame you'll never see him again."

Katara bit her lip to try and keep from crying any harder. The entire time she spent in the Prison Hold, she kept her silence and refrained from showing any extreme emotion. It was easy enough; they didn't do anything to her, although they really could have spared a little more food, but now as she watched the boy she loved flying towards her to throw away his life only for her to keep living on, it was too much for her to handle.

Azula's mouth curved into an amused smile when she heard Katara's crying intensify. "Don't worry; your friend's death will be quick; virtually painless." _Lying is so much fun…_

Katara sniffled. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"No," The Princess easily replied; the same amused smile on her face. "Actually, death would be a luxury compared to what we have in store for him."

The Princess watched as Katara's eyes grew wide open, only to be filled with more tears. Azula's amused smile became replaced with one of pride. She had obviously become a master of evoking emotion, something that would be necessary to put her plan in full effect.

A bit of a whimper from Katara told the Princess that the Avatar had landed.

"You know, it really is a shame," Azula's smile became amused once more. "You two would have made a cute couple."

----------

Aang effortlessly airbended himself off of Appa's head and turned around to face the bison.

"Goodbye, buddy." He said with a sad smile as he gave his pet a last hug.

Toph and Sokka, who had climbed off of the bison, walked up next to him. Momo was perched on Toph's shoulder.

"Stay with Toph, alright Momo?" Aang asked as he scratched the lemur behind its oversized ears.

With what sounded like a sad squeak and chirp, the lemur's ears drooped and he obliged to the command.

"I guess this is it." Sokka finally said. Aang could have sworn he saw a tear in his eye.

"Yeah," Toph added. "Hey, hold out in there. We'll find a way to get you out."

Aang smiled, but he doubted that.

"Do you want us to tell her… how you feel about her?" Sokka asked.

Aang's smile faded away. "No."

Sokka nodded. "We'll see you around." Sokka said in a friendly tone.

"No," Aang handed his staff to Sokka and turned to face the Fire Nation soldiers standing less than one hundred yards away. "You won't."

Aang began walking.

----------

Katara forced her tears to stop spilling out; she would have to face Aang soon.

"You're lucky to have someone who cares for you so much," The Princess told her. "I'd dare to say he loves you."

"What would _you _know about love?"

"Only that it's a weakness; that it clouds your judgment, like what is happening to the Avatar right now. Thousands more will die in the Fire Nation conquest because he values your life more than anyone else's," Azula looked at Katara. "That is either love or determination. And I highly doubt the latter."

_She's lying. _Katara thought bitterly. _All she does is lie…_

Azula saw the Avatar begin to walk in their direction. Another proud smile came to her face.

"Walk towards your friends," The Princess commanded. "If you stop to talk to the Avatar, we'll kill them all."

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Katara nodded and slowly began to move towards the others. Her eyes came to rest on the boy approaching her on her left side. He was looking directly at her, his eyes hard and focused. It was obvious that he knew what would happen to him.

Aang released a sigh of relief when he noticed that Katara wasn't limping or cut up or bruised. She seemed fine; her clothes were a little dirty, but that was it.

They were finally reaching a talking distance from each other, and Katara couldn't find any words. Every time she opened her mouth to say something she would choke and have to fight back more tears.

"Are you alright?" Aang asked; desperation in his voice.

Katara found her voice. "Yeah, I'm fine. I-"

"You sure?" They kept walking at a steady pace, overlapping each other's paths, forcing them to look behind themselves to face the other.

"Yes, I'm sure. Aang-" She cut herself off when she saw that there was already some distance between them. "Don't go…" She whispered, her tears now freely falling at a rapid pace.

The rest of the walk went by rather quickly. The tears kept coming, even as she reached Sokka and Toph.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked as soon as she reached them.

Katara nodded and wiped away her tears, but found than new tears had already taken their places.

"How could you let him go?" Katara didn't direct the question at anyone in specific, just anyone who could have kept him from leaving; Sokka, Toph, the Spirits… anyone.

"Aang wanted to go," Toph clarified. "He wanted to get you back. He wouldn't stop for anything."

Sokka looked at the beautifully carved antique staff in his hands. It was Aang's lone possession, and one of the last things tying him to his past. _It would mean more to her than to anyone else…_

He gently placed the staff in Katara's hands. She looked it over, and the only thought that would come to mind was Aang's smiling face and energetic attitude. A fresh wave of tears emerged as she clutched onto the staff harder, as if it were the last of Aang she had to hold on to.

----------

Azula smiled again, except now it was a smile of pure satisfaction. The Avatar walked up to her, closing his eyes, and patiently holding his hands out to her. A soldier placed iron cuffs on his wrist.

Now wearing a smile of complete psychotic joy, she held his cuffs up by the chain, and pulled the Avatar closer.

Placing her mouth next to his ear, she whispered, "Whatever you were expecting to happen to you, I promise it will be at least ten times worse."

**Yeah, all that violence will start next chapter, so please continue patting your heads and rubbing your stomachs. **

**I'm afraid that I didn't get Azula's personality down right. It's the first time I've really ever included her in a story. If you couldn't tell by now, she's going to be a very important character, so I want her to be as IC as possible.**

**Reviews are still appreciated.**


	3. Your New Home

**Just a quick note; there will be some swearing later on in this story. One of the key elements in torture is to break down the victim's character until a new attitude has taken its place. This new attitude is usually very angry and violent, holding a great deal of hatred towards those who torture said victim. So, logically, Aang will become less and less of the mild-mannered, peaceful monk that he is on the series. Just wanted to let you all know.**

**Also, I'm going to assume that Aang's birthday occurred sometime between "The Crossroads of Destiny" and where I am now. I don't know why. I just like having Aang at 13.**

**I don't own Avatar.**

**Your New Home**

Aang was roughly shoved down the scarcely lit corridor of the Royal Fire Navy ship. Two guards walked in-front of him, two behind him, with Azula trailing all the way in the back, staring at the young Avatar.

There was no doubt in the Princess' mind that her plan would be effective. The only issue she faced was how long it would take to get there. She was well aware that each mind was different, and the time it takes to break one can vary greatly, depending on what mindset and beliefs that mind holds. She needed her plan in effect by the end of the month, exactly three weeks away, and she couldn't risk rushing the process and accidentally killing the Avatar.

They came to the end of the corridor at the ship's stern; a lone room on the right side of the hallway. One of the guards in front opened the iron door and another guard shoved the Avatar into the room. It was dark and damp; a chair in the center of the room with just enough space for two other people.

Aang was forced into the seat as one of the guards lit four torches mounted on the cell's walls. The other guard locked his shackles onto the chair. The Princess walked into the room, her amber eyes almost glowing in the light of the fire. Aang's own stormy gray eyes glared at her as she walked to the rear wall.

"What is your name?" She questioned, still facing the wall.

Aang said nothing.

The Princess turned around and nodded at one of the guards. He decked Aang right on the side of his head, making a very painful contact with his temple.

"That was a warning," The Princess informed him acidly as she approached the chair. "Every time you don't cooperate, it will only get worse. Now, what is your name?!"

Aang groaned in pain from the punch. "It's Aang."

Azula smirked. "And your age?"

"Thirteen," Aang shot her another glare. "What's it to you?"

The guard punched again, this time harder and making contact with his jaw. Aang could taste the metallic flavor of blood in his mouth.

The Princess came around the chair to face the young Avatar. "This is a pin-prick compared to what we can do. Now will you cooperate or not?"

Aang raised his head to look the Princess in the eyes. With a hardened face, he spat the blood out of his mouth at the Princess' feet.

Azula's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Leave us." She instructed the guards.

All taking a quick glance at the Avatar, they retreated from the room and closed the door behind them.

She returned to her position behind Aang. Reaching into her sleeve, she pulled out one of Mai's knives. Slowly, the Princess began to circle around the Avatar; the knife gleaming in the light of the four torches.

"Apparently you are unresponsive to reasoning," She stopped circling and came to stand in from of him. She bent down to be at eye level with him. Bringing the small knife up, she twirled it around in her hand. "I promised you this wouldn't be pleasant…"

With Azula raising the knife up to his throat, Aang closed his eyes and swallowed hard. Suddenly, he felt a cold draft and opened his eyes. The Princess had used the knife to tear through his shirt. Removing the garment from his body, she tossed it to a corner of the room.

She looked down at Aang's hand. "Those really are some interesting tattoos," She said, raising his hand and following the blue trail up his arm. She placed the point of the knife on the tattoo on his upper arm, applying a slight amount of pressure. A drop of red liquid came out of his arm. "Getting them must have been quite painful…"

Applying far more pressure, Azula slowly ran the blade's edge down the blue path. Aang gritted his teeth and his eyes watered, growling in pain the whole time. Azula slowed down further more and cut deeper, a manic smile on her face as she watched the red substance rise out of his arm and run over the blue tattoo. She got to his hand, and with a final smirk, she quickly closed the distance, slicing all the way to his middle knuckle. His whole arm stung like hell.

Aang's breathing was heavy and labored as he fought to restrain his tears. With another smirk, she dragged the knife's edge back up his arm, not making an incision this time.

"You'd be amazed at what you could learn traveling with an acrobat and a knife thrower," She told him, running the knife softly up his shoulder. "For example, many nerves in the body are bundled right here," Her knife came to rest just above his collarbone. "In that hollow between the shoulder and collarbone. Needless to say, that area is quite sensitive."

And with no further warning, she plunged the knife deep into the hollow; Aang yelling out in complete searing pain. And with that same manic smile, she twisted the knife. Aang's whole body convulsed violently before the pain brought him to unconsciousness.

Azula pulled the knife out with a bit of a frown; she had hoped to do more. Walking to the corner of the room and retrieving Aang's shirt, she used it to wipe the blood off of the knife.

Just before exiting the room, she turned her head to face his motionless body. "Welcome to your new home, Avatar."

She opened the door and stepped out, leaving the door open behind her.

"Treat his wounds and stop the bleeding," She ordered her guards. "I'll be back to continue this later."

She walked down the corridor and disappeared around a corner.

----------

Katara sat near the campfire, hugging her knees to her chest. There was an uncomfortable silence, as everyone was too afraid to speak.

Katara stared into the fire and could only imagine the horrors that Aang was facing. Well, really, it didn't do too well to dwell on that, but she found it impossible to think of anything else.

"Hey," Toph's voice shook Katara out of her thoughts. "What do we do now?"

Everyone else kept quiet. No one dared to say 'go home.'

"I told Twinkle-Toes that we'd get him out." She continued.

"Toph," Sokka's voice was surprisingly sad. "Aang- he's as good as dead by now."

"No," Katara's voice seemed distant. "Azula said that they weren't going to kill him. She said they were going to do worse."

Both Sokka's and Toph's heads dropped when they heard this. That meant that right now, their friend was somewhere screaming his lungs out in pain and agony and they couldn't do anything about it.

Suddenly, Katara's eyes widened and her head shot up. "That's it!" She exclaimed, gaining attention from Sokka and Toph. "He's _not_ dead! We can get him back!"

"Katara," Sokka's voice seemed even sadder. "We don't even know where they took him. They can be anywhere by now."

"Get the map." Katara's voice had a newfound strength and determination in it.

Sokka dug through their assorted items, although he didn't see the point in trying, and pulled out the old cartograph.

Katara unrolled it and pointed at the Lake. "Look, here's the northern shore of Lake Nuo, and here's the shore of the ocean. They brought me to the Lake in one of their tanks; the ride was about a couple hours long. They were keeping me on a ship docked on the ocean. When they left with Aang, they were heading west. That means that the dock is somewhere around here," She pointed at the shore of the ocean, just north of Lake Nuo.

Sokka's eyes widened as he leaned closer to the map. "And there would be two most likely places for them to go, the nearest Fire Nation docks or the Fire Nation Capital. And since this is Azula, chances are it's the Capital."

Even Toph, who couldn't see the map, began to understand where this was heading. "So if we fly towards these docks you were at and then head in the direction of the Capital, we should come across the ship."

It seemed like now they had a plan of action. A plausible plan of action. Katara smiled; the first time since the trade took place. _We're getting you back, Aang. Just hold on…_

----------

The Princess' shoes clanged on the iron floor of her ship. Walking down that same corridor, she came up on the Avatar's cell. The guard at the entrance opened the door. Azula smiled at her work. He had a large bandage that wrapped under his arm and over his shoulder. There was a dark red blotch just under his shoulder.

The long cut from his upper arm all the way down to his hand, tracing the arrow, was stitched up. _He'll never lose that scar… _the Princess though with a mental laugh. The idea of the Avatar's race's last surviving traditions being defaced just seemed like perfection.

His shirt still lay useless on the cold floor, the blood stains clearly visible in the bright yellow fabric. And finally, she bore a genuine smile, one of joy as she thought how proud of her her father would be.

Her focus returned to the boy sitting in the chair, his head hanging to the side in his unconsciousness. Slowly striding over to him, she gave him a forceful push to wake him up.

Aang's eyes flew open and he sucked in a breath, suddenly wincing at the sharp pain coursing through his left shoulder where Azula had plunged her knife into his nerves.

"Have a nice nap?" She asked him, tauntingly.

"Could've been better," He replied with the same tone.

Azula actually laughed, although it seemed more like a snicker of mockery. Reaching into the same sleeve she pulled out another knife. Aang's eyes widened.

"What, again?"

For seemingly no reason, Azula's eyes narrowed. "Yes, again. And again later today, and again tomorrow and everyday after that until I have what I want."

"And what do you want?"

"All things in time," She responded quickly. "But until then," She began lightly dragging the blade along his bare skin again, searching for a place to damage. "Did you know that one of the most sensitive places on the body is behind the knee?" Azula slowly began raking the knife's tip down his leg. Aang's heart rate sped up rapidly. "That's because all the nerves are very near the surface of the skin," As the Princess got closer and closer to that area, Aang continuously began thrashing his leg around, cursing his shackles for taking away his mobility.

Azula found his fear amusing and simply continued to move towards that spot. "So to incite the greatest amount of pain," Aang's shackles wouldn't even let him draw his leg back to cover the area. He knew that shouting and screaming would be useless. "You don't even have to make a deep cut," The Princess angled the knife and pressed it up against that spot, as one would fillet a piece of meat. Aang started breathing heavily and kept thrashing his leg in a last-ditch effort.

"All you have to do," Suddenly the thrashing stopped. The Princess looked up at the Avatar; his steely gray eyes hard and focused, his face stone-like and devoid of emotion.

"I promise that when I get out of here, I'm going to kill _you_ first. Then your father."

Azula dawned a proud smirk. _The plan _is _working…_

"All you have to do," She repeated. "Is make a larger cut." The knife's edge dug into his skin and slowly began slicing just under the surface.

The Avatar's screams were heard all the way down the long, metal corridor.

**This isn't even close to the violence I had in mind. The next chapters will be far more gruesome. But, you read up to here, so you can stop patting your heads and rubbing your tummies if you feel like it.**

**I don't like this chapter as much as the last one. I really don't know why. I just think the last one came out better.**

**I want to make this its own fic, but I want to see some more feedback first. I only had 4 reviews on the first chapter and 7 on the second; I'd like some more opinions.**


	4. Frozen Water, Broken Spirits

**I know, I'm late, but I have an excuse (or several excuses). Let's see, in the time that I haven't updated, I have: moved while my old house gets an addition done, had to work hours on end at a friends house to do a video project on Julius Caesar for English (we did a commercial of Caesar selling daggers, in 'honor' of the Ides of March (March 15), which is the day he was killed ), write a report on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, do my subject selection for my classes next year, and (my favorite) actually started making my movie (that's been about a year in coming)! You'll find more on my movie in my profile if you're interested.**

**Okay, last chapter we covered the Physical element of torture. Next chapter will probably be more Physical torture. Eventually I'll get to Psychological torture (there's a little here if you squint hard enough). This chapter is just an excuse to get Aang and Azula talking some more.**

**I had some pretty good comments/questions in the reviews for the last chapter so I'll have some responses at the end of this update. M'kay? On to the story!**

**I don't own Avatar.**

**Frozen Water, Broken Spirits**

Aang's head shot up; his eyes wide as ice cold water was poured over him.

"Good morning, Avatar," The guard with the bucket of water snarled before retreating out of the room as the Princess walked in.

"It's morning?" Aang asked, dazed. His eyes were still trying to adjust to the blinding light of the four torches on the cell's walls. "Wait, it was night?"

The Princess said nothing. Of course it wasn't morning; the sun had just set a few minutes ago. The Avatar had been holed up in this cell for no more than five hours, but he had no way of knowing. He was unconscious most of the time, and she could use that to her advantage. It would work towards her benefit for the Avatar to believe he has been here longer than he really has.

When Aang realized that Azula wasn't going to respond, he looked down. There was now a bandage that wrapped around and behind his left knee, and another fairly large bandage on his right calf. He didn't even remember what happened to his leg after Azula had cut behind his knee, but the evidence shows that she wanted to keep going. He was surprised how little pain he felt now, but any pain can be considered small compared to what he was put through earlier.

The silence in the room was… scary. Whenever Azula walked in before, she had gotten right down to business, but now, she has been standing in the same spot for at least three minutes staring at the wall. And it was making Aang uneasy. Despite his every struggle against it, he cracked under the pressure and spoke up.

"Why am I here? What do you want from me?"

Azula remained silent, not even acknowledging that there was someone else in the room.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would've done that already." Aang elaborated. "You keep saying that you're waiting for me to give you something. Why don't you tell me what it is; I might just give it to you."

Azula smirked; something that Aang couldn't see because he couldn't turn his head to see her. "You aren't ready, Avatar." Azula's explanation was short, but it was enough to send the message to him.

"So you're just gonna torture me until I cave in? That's the great, devious plot, straight from the mind of the grand Fire Nation royal family?"

Her smirk was still there. "Occam's razor, Avatar. The simplest solution is often the best." _(more on that in the 2nd A/N)_

"And this is coming from the person who tried to use a giant drill to go through the Wall of Ba-Sing-Se?"

Azula's smirk turned to a slight frown. "The Drill was a mistake. After the fall of the Earth Kingdom, I learned that such extravagant measures are not necessary. After all, I was able to overthrow Ba-Sing-Se with nothing but some costumes and the help of my brother."

Aang's face contorted with sadness at the memory of Ba-Sing-Se's downfall. The downfall _he _let happen. A downfall that could have been avoided if he just let go of his attachment to Katara like he was told. And what was worse, the time where he was struck down by the Princess herself, leaving her mark forever, and left Katara to fight off both Firebender and Earthbender alike, the time where she needed him most.

After Katara nursed him back to health (something that he was sure he didn't deserve), he refused to ever speak to Katara about it, who luckily, never questioned him about it (Sokka and Toph would say that she had her own reasons for burying those memories). Instead, Aang looked for counsel in his other friends, needing to spill out everything that he had learned and get some second opinions. They had actually been very helpful, and it felt good to have someone to discuss things that he couldn't otherwise with Katara. One day he even told Sokka that he loved the waterbender, and was grateful when he received not only his permission, but his support as well.

All these thoughts flooded Aang when the Princess mentioned that one horrible night. And as would be expected with someone in his condition, it made him feel faint. He lowered his head and closed his eyes to catch a breath. Upon opening them, his vision refocused on the floor, where a puddle of water lay at his bare feet.

Aang quietly gasped. _Water…_

There wasn't much to work with, but just maybe… A distraction was necessary. Just something to get the Princess to let him-

"Your food will arrive here shortly." She interrupted his thoughts. "Expect another visit from me later." She began to head towards the door.

"Wait!" Aang reacted quickly, barely having time to be shocked that he will be fed. The Princess stopped walking. "I, umm, need to use the bathroom."

"Go ahead, no one's stopping you." She said matter-of-factly and continued walking.

"Are you sure you want to come in here and torture me while standing in my filth?" Apparently, Aang's mind was functioning on its own. He didn't even know where he had come up with such a viable excuse.

Upon reflection, the Princess almost let herself shudder at the thought. Torturing the Avatar was one thing but there are certain lengths that no Royalty should have to go.

Azula walked up to the guards at the door. "Escort the Avatar to a restroom. Make sure he is quick about it."

"Yes, my Princess." The guards replied in unison as she began to walk down the corridor. Suddenly she stopped and turned around.

"And if the Avatar should try to escape," The Princess smirked. "Well, use your imaginations."

Aang, who was inside the cell, heard her remark. He gulped and looked at the water again.

"Yes, my Princess." The guards said again as she walked away. They entered the room and began undoing the Avatar's shackles.

---------------

They flew through the darkening light of day and warm evening air as the sun set before them on the distant horizon. The pilot's spot on Appa's head was currently vacant; Sokka, Katara and Toph were all sitting on his back as he flew to the Western Coast on his own.

The trip passed in silence. Katara was staring blankly at the empty spot on Appa's head where Aang would normally be seated. She cursed herself a hundred times over for ever ignoring him on these long flights like she would occasionally do, and thought about exactly what she would give to have him sitting there with her right now. She made a mental note to never leave his side during one of these trips again.

Sokka was entirely out of sync with his usual behavior. He now remained quiet; his brows furrowed and a slight frown on his face. He was obviously deep in thought. Every once in a while, his vision would stray to Aang's staff, which was currently still in Katara's grasp and end up staring at it for some time.

Toph was the hardest to read. She just looked… sad. No one could tell what she was thinking. Through the whole trip, she just sat there with the same frown and gloomy look in her milky eyes. Every once in a while, she would open her mouth to say something, but would quickly reconsider and return to her silence.

"It's my fault they have him." Sokka suddenly said. Both Katara and Toph craned their necks to look at him. Sokka took their silence as a sign to continue.

"I could have told him not to go; I could have stopped him. But instead, I wanted him to go and get you back, Katara." He stared at Appa's back as he spoke.

"I pretty much told him to go through with it." Sokka ended. Still, the others were quiet.

"It's not your fault, Sokka," Katara finally told him. "If anything, it's mine. I'm the one who got captured by Azula in the first place."

"It's not your fault," Sokka dismissed her last thought. "How can you blame an accident like getting captured on yourself?"

Katara turned her head to face Aang's empty spot. "If it weren't for my 'accident,' we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place."

"You're being too hard on yourself," Toph finally entered the conversation. "You too, Snoozles." Sokka looked at her at hearing his 'name.'

"It's no one's fault," She continued. "It just happened. Twinkle-Toes chose to go on his own; and he would've done it no matter who got captured. We can't waste time arguing about whose fault it is that he's gone; he just is. Now we have to get him back. So stop feeling sorry for yourselves and pay attention to where we're going."

Both Katara and Sokka stared wide-eyed at earthbender, not expecting such a wise interjection, least of all from her. Suddenly feeling guilty for focusing on something as trivial as the blame for Aang's capture rather than searching for him, they turned their gaze out in-front of them, where they could just barely see the ocean shore, and hopefully, the Fire Nation docks.

----------

He walked down that familiar metal corridor, the small amount of water he could gather suspended in the closed fist of his right hand, waiting for the best moment he could get. If he was going to do this, he would need to separate the two guards; there was just not enough water to fight off the both of them. There was barely enough water to fight off one of them.

Well, whatever he was going to do, he needed to do it fast; they were about to come up on the door to one of the ship's restrooms.

_This is going to be impossible… _Aang's mind told him as he practically dragged his own body across the floor. Neither of his legs were in the condition to be lifting him up, yet here he was, limping his way to the bathroom, about to kill at least one of the guards watching over him.

_Kill… _Aang never really did like that word too much. In fact, he refrained from killing his enemies whenever possible, a feat not easily achieved when trying to end a war. The only times he ever really killed anyone was when he was in the Avatar State, and even that he couldn't forgive himself for. So why was he here, fully in control of his body, about to kill a man without as much as a second thought?

Aang chose not to dwell on it. Maybe it would make all of this easier. Either way, now was not the time to think about it. He was at the door.

One of the guards opened the door and the other roughly shoved him by the arm into the small room.

"Hurry up." One of the guards barked in a low voice to his back.

Aang's fist tightened slightly as he began to freeze the water into something usable. He nodded mechanically at the guards' command.

Just as Aang was about to close the door, the guard reached out and painfully grabbed him by the wrist, showing a sadistic smile.

"I'll take that water you're hiding now, Avatar."

**Okay, not the most eventful chapter, this is mostly plot forwarding by having Sokka, Katara and Toph flying towards the docks. There is also a little bit of purpose behind Aang's failed escape attempt. That's that small amount of Psychological torture I mentioned. I will not mention how it is Psychological torture because I don't want to give any future events away.**

**That thing I mentioned in the story, Occam's Razor (named for William of Ockham, a 14th century logician); yeah I know it doesn't belong in the Avatarverse, but it fit the line I was writing at the moment. It is a principle of logic that states that when all possible variables are equal, the simplest solution is often the best. So that's it for that.**

**Any of you have any clues as to what Azula's plan is? Why don't you guess and make me laugh? Lol. I'll tell you right now, it's not your generic 'serve the Fire Nation' scheme. I want to see how many people can get close to my idea before it actually happens. If any of you guess right, well, I'll give you one E-Cookie. I'd give you a normal cookie, but, unfortunately, I think I ate them all. –belch-**

**Thanks for all your reviews, guys! Here are those responses I promised:**

**-ElicityFay: **Well, that's the reaction I was going for. Azula's plan will be unorthodox, I'll promise you that much.

**-kataangfan22:** I can stand it pretty easily, actually. I figure, after almost 25 chapters of good, wholesome fluff in "Aang, Katara, and a Plan," it's time for a change of scenery.

**-crailis: **You're my second twitcher! Yay! Like I said, that was the reaction I was aiming for.

**-frozenheat: **His change of character will be subtler in some places than others. I put a little bit of it here with that part about killing the guard.

**-libowiekitty: **I think that's why this site exists, to read stuff that we will never see in the book/show/movie or whatever other genre they have here. And thank God that it does exist, because there is so much on this site that I would love to see in the show…

**-Invaderk: **I knew someone was going to mention that. As I showed in this chapter, I wanted Sokka to feel kinda low and helpless after the trade. I mean, he practically sold his best friend out to the people who are always trying to kill him, so yeah. He would sorta feel like a traitor.

**-TTAvatarfan: **The thing about the nerves close to the surface of the skin behind the knee was prior knowledge (not exactly 'innocent' knowledge, though, as there are other uses for sensitive areas on the body ;) ), and that spot above your shoulder blade I learned from Fox's hit show, '24.' It's loaded with torture/interrogation scenes, so it's definitely going to be helping me throughout this story.

**-Liselle129: **Real… That's the best interpretation of it I've gotten so far. I want this war to seem like an actual war, not what we see in cartoons. I want it to be realistic and I want it to incite that feeling in your gut when you think about what really happens during a war; prisoners and all. I'm trying to take a big leap off of my usual writing to show that. I think I do actually interpret Azula a little differently than others because I want to show that even she has a human side, which leads me to those smiles. Those smiles are there with reason, but I can't give it away without giving away her plan. All I can say is read the last two sentences in the 3rd paragraph of your review and it might come to you. I don't think the torture will be too long, but Aang's rescue will be the end of the story. However, I'm already planning a sequel (yeah, I know, that was fast) that could very well go in this story, but I want Aang's time as a prisoner and Aang's time free to be grouped up separately. The sequel will be the one to really deal with love, so, unfortunately, you'll have to wait a while to see love pull through. (PS- what is it with me and long reviews/responses to you? I think this is the longest paragraph in the update. Lol.)

**-Princess Yue:** Well, it's not going to be like 'Silence of the Lambs (a really fricken' scary movie)' gory, but I'd slap a "Viewer Discretion Advised" warning on here if I could.

**And thanks to all those other reviewers who I didn't mention above!**


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